Will taking survivor benefits affect my disabled son's Social Security payments from his late father?

Your son's survivor benefits from his father should not be affected by you taking your own survivor benefits. These are completely separate entitlements. As for when you switch to your own retirement benefits, your son would continue receiving the survivor benefits from his father rather than switching to something under your record, since the survivor benefit is likely higher than any disabled adult child benefit he might qualify for under your record.I went through something similar with my disabled daughter. The key is that each beneficiary's payments are calculated separately. The only time there might be an impact is if there's a family maximum limit being applied, but even then, your claiming wouldn't affect that since you'd be drawing on survivor benefits, not the same record as your son initially.I recommend getting confirmation from SSA directly though. Have you tried using Claimyr to get through to them? It helped me bypass those ridiculous wait times. Their site is claimyr.com and they have a video explaining how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU

Thank you so much for this clear explanation! I hadn't heard of Claimyr before - I'll definitely check that out because these wait times are making me crazy. I've been trying to get through for weeks! I just want to make absolutely sure my son's benefits won't be reduced before I make any decisions about my own.

your son gets DAC benefits (disabled adult child) since his dad died. thats different from ur survivor benefits. they dont affect each other AT ALL. my sister is on DAC from our dad and mom gets survivors too, no problem for either of them. u can do whatever u want with ur own ss

This is NOT entirely accurate. Benefits can definitely affect each other if the family maximum limit comes into play. It depends on how much the deceased worker's PIA was and how many people are drawing benefits on that record. And when the original poster switches to her own retirement benefits at age 70, there could be implications depending on which benefit would be higher for her son. There are MANY factors that go into these calculations!!!!

I wanted to provide some technically accurate information, as there seems to be some confusion.Your son is receiving what's called a Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefit on his deceased father's record. This is because he became disabled before age 22 and is now entitled to a benefit based on his father's earnings record.Here's how your situation works:1. Your collecting survivor benefits will NOT affect your son's payment amount. These are separate entitlements, even though they're both based on your deceased husband's record.2. When you switch to your own retirement benefits at 70, your son will CONTINUE to receive the DAC survivor benefits from his father's record. He would only switch to a benefit based on your record if that amount would be higher (which is unlikely since survivor benefits are generally higher than dependent benefits).3. Because your husband died before receiving benefits, your son's benefit is based on 75% of what your husband's full retirement benefit would have been.The only situation where there might be any interaction is if multiple beneficiaries are receiving benefits on the same record and the family maximum limit comes into play. However, even in that case, your switching to your own record at 70 would actually be beneficial as it would remove you from the family maximum calculation on your husband's record.I recommend documenting your questions and getting official confirmation from SSA.

Thank you SO much for this detailed explanation! I've been worrying about this for months. So if I understand correctly, I can take my survivor benefits now, then switch to my own retirement at 70, and neither decision should negatively impact my son's benefits? That's such a relief!

My brother has Down syndrome and gets benefits from our dad who died. When mom started getting her widows benefits it didn't change anything for him. But theres some rule about family maximum that sometimes matters?? Not sure but it didnt affect us

You're right that there is a family maximum benefit (FMB) which limits the total amount that can be paid to all beneficiaries on a single earnings record. It's typically between 150% and 180% of the worker's primary insurance amount (PIA). However, this mainly comes into play when there are multiple children or dependents drawing on the same record. In the original poster's case, if it's just her and her son drawing on the deceased husband's record, they're likely not hitting that maximum. And importantly, when she eventually switches to her own retirement benefit, that would remove her from the family maximum calculation on her husband's record entirely.

oh that makes sense! thanks for explaining that. social security has so many confusing rules

THE SSA WILL MESS THIS UP IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL!!! When I started my benefits they accidentally triggered a review of my daughter's DAC benefits and reduced her payment for 2 MONTHS before fixing it. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING and get the NAME and DIRECT EXTENSION of anyone you talk to!!! Don't trust them to process things correctly the first time!!!

This is absolutely right - you need to document everything. I had a similar situation where SSA mistakenly thought my changing benefits affected my son's eligibility. It took almost 6 months to sort out, and they only backdated payments after I showed them my detailed notes from every phone call. Always write down who you spoke with, the date and time, and what they told you.

I think a lot of these responses are missing something important. It depends on whether your son is receiving benefits as a survivor (because his father died) or as a disabled adult child (DAC). These are different types of benefits with different rules. Can you clarify which type of benefit your son is receiving exactly? The notice from SSA should specify this.

Just to clarify, since the original poster stated her son receives survivor benefits from his deceased father, he would technically be receiving a Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefit on a deceased parent's record. This is still considered a type of survivor benefit when the parent is deceased. The official SSA designation would be a

Thank you for that clarification! You're right - I should have been more precise in my terminology. The classification matters because it affects how other benefits might interact with it.

I went through almost the exact same situation last year. Your decision to take survivor benefits early while letting your own retirement benefit grow is smart - it's called a restricted application strategy, one of the few remaining after the 2015 rule changes. I can confirm that when I did this, it had absolutely no impact on my disabled daughter's benefits from her father's record.I did have trouble getting consistent answers from different SSA representatives though. One told me it would affect my daughter's benefits, another said it wouldn't. I finally got someone knowledgeable who explained that since these are separate entitlements, they don't affect each other.The most important thing: make sure you specifically tell them you want to file a \

Thank you for sharing your experience! That's exactly what I'm trying to do - the restricted application. It's so helpful to hear from someone who's been through this exact situation. I'll make sure to use that specific language when I talk to them.